Senate Passes Obama’s AIDS Bill

AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | July 17, 2008

The $200 billion already spent by U.S. taxpayers on HIV/AIDS here and around the world has not resulted in any cures or a vaccine.

Only 16 Senators, all conservative Republicans, voted against the massive $50 billion global AIDS spending bill (S. 2731) when it came up for a final vote on Wednesday night. The outcome, which included the addition of water projects for Indian reservations, demonstrated the complicity of both major political parties in out-of-control spending designed to benefit a powerful special interest group.

The final vote was 80-16 with Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, both original sponsors of the bill, on the campaign trail and not available to cast a vote on the Senate floor.

Dr. Paul Zeitz of the Global AIDS Alliance thanked Democratic Senators Joe Biden and Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Senator Richard Lugar for their “tremendous achievementâ€